WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT: Yes, elections do matter. Putting a quick halt to an Orwellian Bush administration rule allowing mining companies to kill mountain streams, the Environmental Protection Agency this afternoon announced that it will delay hundreds of mining permits while it takes a closer look at how the operations will affect local waterways. “EPA will use the best science and follow the letter of the law in ensuring we are protecting our environment,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. Of all the methods used to extract coal, none is so destructive to ecosystems as mountaintop mining — a process […]

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: More than six months after the financial crisis began, the US government has a detailed plan that strikes at the heart of the overarching problem with the economy: “toxic assets” sitting on banks’ books. The government’s latest effort to try to help the troubled financial system involves setting up a mechanism by which the taxpayers and private investors buy those bad assets. The effort, announced on Monday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, transfers part of the risk to America’s taxpayers and the federal bank insurance system. It’s not clear how much money the government will ultimately need […]

FINANCIAL TIMES: President Barack Obama on Friday issued a widely awaited message to the people and government of Iran in his bid to end a 30-year diplomatic standoff between the US and the Islamic Republic. In an Iranian New Year video message released on the internet, Mr Obama emphasised the benefits of increased cooperation with Washington rather than stressing sanctions or military action. “The US wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations,” he said. “You have that right but it comes with real responsibilities and that place cannot be reached through […]

FOREIGN POLICY: Violence in Mexico is getting worse by the day. There are reports of beheadings, killings in the several thousands, and an environment of fear that makes it impossible for Mexican officials to do their work. The country’s very stability may be threatened. It’s time to put an end to U.S. policies that subsidize these murderous drug gangs. The first step, as a growing chorus of voices is arguing, is to end the quixotic policy of prohibition, a proven failure. But the United States can do even better; by empowering a domestic marijuana industry, the United States would squeeze […]

REUTERS: The Vatican on Wednesday defended Pope Benedict’s opposition to the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as activists, doctors and politicians criticized it as unrealistic, unscientific and dangerous. Benedict, arriving in Africa, said on Tuesday that condoms “increase the problem” of AIDS. The comment, made to reporters aboard his plane, caused a worldwide firestorm of criticism. HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, infects 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million. “The pope saying they are not good is like someone saying traveling by air is not 100 percent safe, so we should […]

WASHINGTON POST: A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn’t show up at all. MORE TIME: The rescue of AIG is warping the banking system and unnecessarily extending the credit crisis. This misguided effort stems from a lack of transparency and […]